By Charles Stannard
REGION 4— A total of 17 teachers have accepted the early retirement incentive offer from the district’s school boards.
Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy said early retirement was accepted by three teachers at Chester Elementary School, five teachers at Deep river Elementary School, three teachers at Essex Elementary School, three teachers at John Winthrop Middle School, and one teacher at Valley Regional High School.
There were 1.7 early retirements from teachers funded under the Supervision District budget, which covers shared services. Both are art teachers who rotated between schools.
To be eligible for the offer, teachers had to meet state requirements for early retirement. The teachers had to be at least 50 years old with 20 years of service as a public school teacher, or any age with at least 25 years of service as a public school teacher.
The Region 4 offer had two options, a cash payout of $10,000 per year for five years, or an option that had no cash payment but five years of health insurance coverage for an individual or four years of health insurance coverage for an individual with family or spouse. Levy said seven teachers took the cash payout and 10 teachers accepted the extended health insurance coverage.
Levy said the 17 retirements was slightly more than she anticipated. Levy said the early retirements would generate savings in the 2010-2011 education budgets because salaries for new and younger replacements would be lower. She said the early retirements had averted the need for any consideration of teacher layoffs, at least under the budget plans for 2010-2011 now being prepared by the district’s school boards.
Levy projected that at least 15 of the 17 positions would have to be replaced, though some positions could be eliminated through attrition depending on student enrollment for 2010-2011.
By Charles Stannard
REGION 4— The Region 4 Board of Education has approved a $16,999,527 budget for 2010-2011 that will be presented to the voters of Chester, Deep River, and Essex at an April 8 hearing.
Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy said the budget was approved on a unanimous vote of the board at a March 4 meeting. The gross budget represents a 1.71 percent increase over current spending. The $16.99 million total is reduced by anticipated revenue to a net budget of $16,780,530 that will be assessed to the taxpayers of the three towns. The net budget total represents a 2.14 percent increase over the current net appropriation.
The budget plan includes a 1 percent salary increase for district teachers. It also funds an in-house television studio at Valley Regional High School that was started with a donation from the Region 4 Foundation. New funding for the television service totals $5,632. The budget also funds an upgrade for the part-time athletic director position, and converts the existing one-half time assistant principal position at John Winthrop Middle School to a full-time position. The asisistant principal at the school currently dedicates half time to school social worker duties.
Levy, who assumed the superintendent job last June after working previously in the district as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said the budget proposal “takes in to consideration student needs and a difficult economy.”
The $16.78 million net budget is assessed to the towns of Chester, Deep River, and Essex based on the number of students from each town attending the middle school and high school.
Chester, with 271 students, has an assessment of $4,616,324, an increase of $174,438, or 3.95 percent over the current assessment. Chester had an increase of 11 students at the two schools over the previous enrollment total.
Deep River, with 295 students, has an assessment of $5,025,769, a decrease of $80,510, or 1.58 percent from the current assessment. Enrollment from Deep River at the two secondary schools has dropped by four students.
Essex, with 403 students, has an assessment of $7,138,437, an increase of $256,132, or 3.72 percent, from the current assessment. Enrollment from Essex at the two schools increased by 16 students.
The budget hearing is scheduled for April 8th at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at John Winthrop Middle School. Voters of the three towns will vote on a budget plan for 2010-1011 at a May 4 referendum.
Supervision District Budget
The proposed Supervision District Budget for 2010-1011 totals $5,811,229, an increase of 3.5 percent from the current supervision district appropriation. The supervision district funds shared services among the two secondary schoolls and the elementary schools in Chester, Deep River, and Essex. Shared services include central office staff and operations, bus transportation, and staff that work at more than one school.
The supervision district budget is divided among the three towns and Region 4 based on student enrollment, with the components then included in the spending plans for Region 4 and the three elementary schools. The budget has received unanimous approval from the Supervision District Committee and each of the four district school boards.
Proposed new spending in the supervision district budget includes $18,410 for a four-tenths time upgrade of a school psychologist position serving the three elementary schools, an $8,000 stipend for a doctor who would be on call for the district, and $10,000 for a consultant to assist in preparing a full regionalization plan for the district.
Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy said the district school boards are working on a full regionalization proposal that could go to the voters of the three towns in a referendum by the end of this year. A full regionalization would merge the districts five school boards, the Region 4 Board of Education, the Supervision District Committee, and the school boards of Chester, Deep River, and Essex, in to a single elected board of education that would run the three-town district.
By: Charles Stannard
REGION 4– Region 4 school boards are offering an early retirement incentive to teachers at district schools in Chester, Deep river and Essex.
Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy said the retirement incentive for “veteran teachers,” is an effort to generate some savings on salaries in the 2010-2011 education budget that is now under preparation. More experienced teachers earning higher salaries would be replaced by new and younger teachers that would start lower on the salary scale. The last time Region 4 offered an early retirement incentive to teachers was in 2005.
Levy said at least 19 of the district’s 220 teachers would be eligible for the early retirement offer. Teachers must meet state teacher retirement requirements, which include being at least 50 years old with 20 years of service as a public school teacher, or any age with at least 25 years of service as a public school teacher. Prospective retirees would also be required to have at least five years teaching in Region 4 schools.
Teachers have been offered three incentive options. One is a cash payment buyout of $10,000 per year for five years. The other options provide no cash payout, but would guarantee continued health insurance coverage for five years for an individual, or four years for an individual and spouse.
Teachers must apply for the early retirement incentive by Feb. 26. Levy said she expects each of the district’s five school boards to approve the incentive offer by the end of the month.
The early retirement incentive has already been approved by the Supervision District Committee and the Essex Board of Education, with action pending for the Region 4 Board of Education and school boards in Chester and Deep River. The incentive plan must be formally authorized by each of the district’s five school boards.
By: Charles Stannard
REGION 4— Region 4 school boards and teachers have approved a new three-year contract that includes a one percent pay raise for 2010-2011 and a salary reopener for the second and third years of the agreement.
The contract covers about 225 certified teachers at five schools in the district towns of Chester, Deep River, and Essex. Negotiators for the teachers and the school boards reached the agreement last month. Jim Francis, chairman of the Essex Board of Finance, also attended the negotiating sessions.
Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy said the quick agreement, without the need for state-assisted mediation, showed “a real willingness to work together as a team,” from both sides. “Both sides were extremely collaborative and both sides really understood the economic conditions,” she said.
While most contract language will be in place through 2013, negotiations on salaries and benefits will resume next summer. The agreement for 2010-2011 also raises the teacher’s share of the costs of health insurance premiums from the current 16.5 perent to 17.25 percent effective July 1.
Levy said some teachers will also receive salary scale step increases based on years of service and compensation for additional college degrees. When the general one percent increase and step increases are combined, total salary expenses will increase by 2.76 percent for Deep River, 2.54 percent for Chester, 3.04 percent for Essex, and 2.41 percent for teachers at Valley Regional High School and John Winthrop Middle School. Total salary expenses for supervision district employees that provide shared services at all five schools will rise by 2.37 percent.
The district’s school administrators are in the final year of a three-year contract. Negotiations with the administrator’s association on all portions of a contract, including salaries and benefits, will also begin next summer.
By: Charles Stannard
Ian Neviaser, now in his second year as principal at Valley Regional High School, has been named as “outstanding high school principal” of the year by the Connecticut Association of Schools.
This is the second statewide recognition for a Region 4 school from the Connecticut Associatioon of Schools in the past month. Last week, staff and students at John Winthrop Middle School celebrated the honor of being named “Connecticut Middle School of the Year” by the Connecticut Association of Schools.
Neviaser, an Essex resident, assumed the principal job at Valley Regional in the summer of 2008. He had worked previously as a socal studies teacher and assistant principal at Guilford High School. Before Neviaser’s arrival, the high school had been led for two years by an interim principal, Donald Gates, who had served previouslyas the long-time principal at Portland High School.
Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy, in an e-mail to staff and students, said Neviaser is part of a team that is striving for excellence at Valley Regional High School. “As excellent as a leader may be, it takes a team of people coming together with purpose and for students to make excellence a reality,” Levy wrote.
By Charles Stannard
DEEP RIVER— A crowd of residents, educators and local officials gathered Wednesday for a ceremony celebrating John Winthrop Middle School’s recognition as the Connecticut Association of School’s “Middle School of the Year.”
Students, parents and staff were among the hundreds that turned out for the event held in the school’s auditorium. In recognition of what Principal David Russell called “a thirty-year journey,” several former leaders of Regional School District 4 were in the crowd, including former Superintendent of Schools John Gillespie, who served from 1998 to 2004, former Superintendent John Proctor, who led the district in the 1980s and 1990s, and Richard Blythe, a former coach who was principal of Valley Regional High School during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Several of the school’s retired teachers came back for the ceremony. Also on hand were the elected leaders of the district towns, Chester First Selectman Tom Marsh, Deep River First Selectman Richard Smith, and Essex First Selectman Phil Miller, along with state Rep. James Spallone, D-Essex.
John Winthrop Middle School, which currently serves 355 students in grades 7-8, was constructed in 1971, about two decades after the formation of Region 4. Students in grades 7-8 had previously attended a wing at nearby Valley Regional High School. The school underwent a $20 million renovation and expansion that was completed in 2005.
The school was initially called John Winthrop Junior High School, but evolved in to a middle school, where grades are divided in to teams of students and teachers, during the late 1990s. It was renamed as John Winthrop Middle School after the completion of the building project.
The school applied for the statewide recognition last year, beginning a process that included a written report and a site visit in May from a committee of educators with the Connecticut Association of Schools. Norma Posocco, the chairwoman of the CAS Honors and Awards Committee, said factors contributing to the award include high test scores, parent and community involvement, professional development efforts by staff, and outstanding facilities.
Russell, a former industrial arts teacher who has served as principal since 1995, praised the school’s staff as a “family of professionals.” Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy compared the school to the film “Field of Dreams, declaring “you are sitting in a field of dreams right now.” Levy said “students are the focus of all they do here at John Winthrop Middle School.”
By: Charles Stannard
REGION 4–Students at Valley Regional High School in Deep River were given a chance to watch President Barack Obama’s speech on education live Tuesday after Region 4 school officials initially announced plans not to show the speech live.
Amid claims by some parents that Obama would use the speech for political purposes, Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy announced in a memo issued Friday that the speech would not be shown live at any of the five district schools. Levy advised the speech would be taped and reviewed by school administrators “in keeping with our current practice of previewing materials prior to sharing them with students.”
But in a revised memo posted on the Region 4 website Tuesday, Levy announced the speech would be offered live to students at the high school, with the address to be shown on televisions in the school auditorium, cafeteria, and some classrooms. Students who did not wish to view the speech would be offered “an alternative educational opportunity,” during that time period.
Levy said she had received “numerous e-mails and calls” last week from “parents vehemently opposed” to showing the speech in school. But she noted there had also been numerous contacts over the Labor Day holiday weekend from parents in favor of showing the speech live.
Levy said after reading the speech online Monday, she decided the contents of the address, where Obama urges the nation’s school children to study hard and never consider dropping out of school, were something “that we as parents and educators would hope to instill in our children.”
REGION 4 — Jeffrey Sack, a teacher at Valley Regional High School, has been placed on administrative leave following his arrest on multiple charges related to alleged misconduct with a minor.
“..there is no reason to believe at this time that any inappropriate or criminal conduct has occurred with any student in our school system. Regardless, the teacher in question was placed on administrative leave from his teaching duties pending a thorough investigation by school officials.” said Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy in a written statement. A full copy of Levy’s statement is below.
Court documents show Sack is due back in court in Middletown on September 11th and was released after posting a $75,000 bond. You can track the progress of the case on the court docket tracker linked below.
Links:
Court Docket Tracker from the Connecticut Judicial Branch
Letter from Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy to Parents and the Community
By: Charles Stannard
REGION 4— Schools in Chester, Deep River and Essex (Region 4) open Tuesday with a new district-wide administrative team and new community-related programs at Valley Regional High School and John Winthrop Middle School.
Superintendent of Schools Ruth Levy, the former assistant superintendent who assumed the district’s top job in July, said the main focus of the 2009-2010 school year at the district’s five schools would be maintaining and fulfilling educational initiatives that are already in progress. But the district is planning two new programs that could increase interaction between the schools and the community.
Levy said a new greenhouse donated by the Essex Garden Club will be in place at the middle school by October. The greenhouse would allow students to grow plants and pursue the study of botany year-round. Levy said activities at the greenhouse would be integrated in to the school curriculum, with a focus on plant science and healthy foods.
Levy said an in-house television studio would begin operating at the high school later in the fall. The television studio, modeled after one in operation for several years at Haddam-Killingworth High School, would allow students to produce programs at the school and submit programs to the Comcast public access cable channel.
Levy is joined by two new administrators hired over the summer, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Diane Dugas, who comes to the district after working previously as director of curriculum and instruction in the East Windsor school system, and Director of Pupil Services Tracy Johnston, who comes to Region 4 from the Ledyard school system.
After early retirement offers that created numerous staff openings in recent years, the 2009-2010 academic year begins with only a handful of new certified staff at district schools. Jeffrey Bernardi is a new social studies teacher at the high school, with Cynthia Maiolo joining the staff as a new special education teacher. Elise Bohner is a new reading teacher at the middle school, with Marijane Mantie a new half-time teaching helping out in various grades at Chester Elementary School. There are no new classroom teachers at Essex Elementary School and Deep River Elementary School.
There are five new staff that are funded through the supervision district that covers shared programs and services among the schools. Susan Hollister is a new speech and language pathologist for the high school and middle school, with Kara McKenna joining the staff as a new psychologist for the Chester and Deep River elementary schools. Christine Pelissier is a new special education teacher and Gina Murphy a new foreign language teacher at Essex Elementary School, with Justyna St. Onge the new social worker at Chester Elementary School.
Levy said she and other school staff are excited about the new academic year. “We welcome all of the children back,” she said. “All of our teachers are ready and the classrooms look great.”
By: Charles Stannard
REGION 4 — The Supervision District Committee for Region 4 schools has selected Diane Dugas as the next assistant superintendent of schools for the Chester, Deep River, & Essex district.
Dugas, who now works as director of curriculum and instruction for the East Windsor school district, is expected to begin work in the district on Aug. 25, about one week before the start of the 2009-2010 school year. She becomes the second assistant superintendent for the three-town district, a position that was created in 2006. She succeeds Ruth Levy, who had held the job for three years before assuming the superintendent of schools position in June.
Levy said Dugas was selected from a pool of 36 applicants by a search committee comprised of district administrators, school board members, teachers and parents. She was the unimous choice of the search committee and the supervision district committee after a series of four interviews.
Dugas holds a bachelors of science degree in elementary and special education from Keene State University in New Hampshire. She completed her Masters Degree in Special Education at Westfield State College and her Sixth Year in Educational Administration at the University of Connecticut. She is currently completing the requirements for a Doctorate in Education at UCONN.
Levy said Dugas, a Suffield resident, is hoping to move to the local area with her husband. “Diane loves to work in teams to look at curriculum and making forward progress,” Levy said. “I see her as a good match for our already amazing school family.”
